This was so bleak a spot that monks in trouble for naughty behaviour at the mother house of St Albans used to be packed off to Tynemouth to mend their ways.
He lived out his last days in the mother house in Kimmage Manor, always speaking with affection of his beloved people of Ghana and Africa.
Just how busy these women were is apparent from comments in the annual handwritten report to the order's mother house.
Sisters from the Cross and Passion Order returned to their mother house in Kilcullen on Friday night for a special ceremony of remembrance to mark their contribution to the school and community.
The founding Dominican Congregation of St. Mary of the Springs has its mother house in Columbus, Ohio, where it is also the sponsoring order for Ohio Dominican College.
Almost 100 years ago, on Friday, September 24, 1904, five brothers were selected to go to South Africa from the order's mother house at Waterford in Ireland.
They might have a home, a mother house, a home community, but then they spend the rest of their lives working out in different communities all over the world.